The Princess
by Gray-Eyed Charlatan
Summary: First this story starts with the REAL ENDING. Then, have any of you wondered what happened to Boots? Me too! So, I'm writing Chapter 2 and on from her perspective, age 15. And yes, she might go back in the Underland. If you review, that is.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One- The REAL Ending**

It had been ten days in the Overland since Gregor had left Regalia to try to live a normal life, and he was already sick of it. Day in and day out he thought of Luxa. One day it became too much for him.

"I can't take it anymore!" he randomly shouted at the open air in front of him.

Lizzie, who was reading in the next room, swung her head around the wall and asked, "Did you say something, Gregor?"

"It's too much!" he yelled, frustrated. "I don't belong up here! I feel like I belong down there, with Luxa!"

That had been too much for Lizzie. A tear rolled down her cheek. "Don't you realize that I miss them too? I had friends down there, real friends, not like oven-boy Jeremiah."

Gregor was shocked. Lizzie never insulted people. He noticed the torrent of tears flowing down her face, and he hugged her, trying to make her feel better. How stupid he'd been to say that!

Gregor said soothingly, "Lizzie, I think we should go back down."

Lizzie screeched, "WHAT?! We have a LIFE down here, Gregor! What about Grandma? What about Dad? And what about Mom? They're all still recuperating, Gregor!"

Lizzie's comment stung.

"Fine, I'll go myself."

Lizzie's eyes widened even more. "I'm telling Mom."

"No, don't! Listen, Lizzie, I want to take you all with me!"

"I am never ever going down there again, Gregor. I would know I'd have to leave, and that would be too much for me."

"Fine. I'll just go by myself. Don't tell Mom for a day or two, when she starts to get nervous. Then you can all come down if you want to and join me."

Lizzie's eyes widened. "MOM!"

Gregor clamped a hand over her mouth. "I'm going right now. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

His hand lifted, allowing her to talk. "We've established that. GREGOR'S RUNNING AWAY, MOM!"

Gregor grabbed a loose backpack from his room just in case and ran out of their apartment and down the stairs. When he got to the laundry room, he pried off the grate and called, "IS anyone down there?"

"Drop, Overlander," purred a voice that was familiar to him.

He jumped into the mist and onto the bat.

"Nike? Howard? What are you guys doing here?"

Howard smiled. "Patrolling in case you decided to come back, of course. Luxa and I go on shifts."

"Yeah, well, my family's not going to be too happy about this..." And with that, Gregor explained his escape plan.

Nike was just coasting into the High Hall as Gregor finished, "So I jumped and there you were!"

Gregor got off Nike and looked around, finally spotting the main reason he had come back.

"Gregor?" Luxa asked happily.

"Luxa, I'm back! To stay!"

The two ran up to each other, and, ignoring everyone around them, kissed each other.

After they pulled apart, Luxa said, "Welcome home, Gregor."

* * *

**A/N So, were any of you disappointed with the ending of Code of Claw? I know I was, so I decided to write the REAL ENDING here that we would all wish to see. This is not a one-shot, and will flourish into a full story in due time. Review, por favor!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Twelve Years Later**

(Boots' POV, in case you want to know)

I stared at a family picture before I climbed out of bed. It was from when I was three, when my entire family was still here. My older brother, that I hadn't seen for twelve years, was named Gregor. He had run away one day, telling my older sister, and none of us had seen him since. The authorities had presumed him dead, but my parents and Lizzie seemed to know the real story. I had always wondered why they didn't tell me... And then my grandma was in the picture too. She had died barely a month after Gregor disappeared.

Anyway, I stood up from my bed and stretched. We lived in Manhattan in an apartment. There were only three of us, so we could all fit. Lizzie had gone to college at NYU, leaving me alone with Mom and Dad.

I pulled on skinny jeans, Converse hi-tops, a blue T-shirt, and a purple zip-up sweatshirt. I had never really cared about what was in or out of fashion, and my style almost always worked for whatever I was feeling like.

I walked down the stairs, to see my mom flipping pancakes and my dad reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. To anyone who didn't look closely, they could have just been normal parents. Except that they weren't normal. Mom had bizarre purple scars all over her skin, and Dad had this weird recurring disease that made him feel dizzy and fevered. But he hadn't been having much trouble with it lately, so he was teaching high school science. Thankfully, not at my high school.

"Hey M," my dad greeted, lifting his eyes from his paper. My nickname when I was little was Boots, but I dropped it when I was eight for Maggie. At ten, I was already tired of it and had everyone call me Margaret. But when I was thirteen, I aquired the nickname M.

"Morning, Daddy," I said, not caring if I was supposedly too old to call my father Daddy.

"So, anything important?" Mom asked Dad. They exchanged a knowing glance whose meaning I had no clue of.

Dad closed the newspaper and set it on the table. "Nope, nothing."

She nodded and said to me, "The pancakes will be done in a few."

I looked at the floor to see a cockroach running across. I put my hand down involuntarily and it climbed on. I then lifted it to eye level to get a closer look.

"Margaret, put that down now!" my mom commanded.

I lowered my hand dejectedly. Ever since I could remember, I had always had an unhealthy obsession with roaches. It's not like they were cute or anything. I wondered why-

"So help me, if you ever pick up one of those again, I will ground you until you're thirty." To emphasize her point, she wagged the mixing spoon in my direction.

"Mom! It's just a cockroach! They can't bite me, or sting me, or anything! They're harmle-"

"Don't you dare tell me that they're harmless!" And then she mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like, "Most fearsome swatter. Kidnapping my baby."

"Did you say something, Mom?"

"No. Now eat your breakfast before school starts. And brush that hair of yours."

My hair was semi-long and was in crazy, frizzy, little ringlets. I usually never bothered with it.

I dug into my pancakes, savoring the taste. Mom walked over to Dad.

She whispered, "Do you think she remembers everything?"

"No, Grace, I think she was still too little then."

I was confused. What were my parents hiding from me? Suddenly, it all clicked.

"What happened to my brother?" I demanded in a serious tone.

My mom dropped the glass of water she was holding, and the glass broke as the water spilled out. The scary thing was, she didn't even seem to notice. She said worriedly, "Your brother ran away. Nothing happened to him."

My dad cut in, "I think she deserves a right to know what really happened. To all of us."

I repeated, "What happened?"

"You were so little. We still called you Boots then," Mom started.

"And?"

"If you want to find out, I'd stop interrupting."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, you and your brother fell into a secret world under New York City called the Underland."

I laughed mirthlessly. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"Margaret, I am telling the truth. There's a boulder in Central Park. Behind that boulder is the entrance. There was also an entrance in the laundry grate of our old apartment." I immediately thought that I would check it out. "But I forbid you to investigate." Silly Mom. She always knew what I was going to do. Every day. At every time. My life must've been an open book.

"Bye guys," I said. "I'm going off to school." I looked at the clock. It was time for me to go, anyway. Perfect.

"Don't do anything drastic, honey," my dad called as I walked out the door.

"I won't!" I called back, crossing my fingers.

I jogged down the big hall of our apartment and down the stairs. The elevator was always full, you see. Then, after bolting through the lobby, I decided against ditching my backpack. It might come in handy. After all, I didn't know what I was up against. Central Park wasn't that far away, a few miles at most. So I walked. Best not to exert myself. If I had to skip school, I might as well act aas if I didn't care.

Twenty or so minutes of walking later, I reached Central Park. Early morning joggers were doing their thing. Even more people were walking dogs. In fact, one guy was walking his cat. I looked around for a boulder, expecting something kind of small. It couldn't be that conspicuous. Or could it?

I saw a ginormus (for lack of a better word) rock. Seriously, it was like three feet taller than I was, and about five times as wide, resulting in a very oval-shaped rock. I wedged it open with a lot of trouble, and then peered into the blackness. I had a mini flashlight on my keychain, but that was it. I turned the little light on.

I stepped into the blackness.


	3. Chapter 3

(Third Person)

Gregor was about halfway happy with his new life. Sure, he was married to the love of his life, had three beautiful daughters, and was king, but he really missed his family. And he couldn't see them because they, the Regalians, were involved in yet another war, which had been dragging on for years. Against the rats. Since King Ripred had fallen from power, a new awful rat king had taken over. And it was, of course, up to King Gregor and Queen Luxa to fix it!

This is really getting bad, he thought.

Luxa stirred him from his thoughts. "Gregor, the horns just rang. Someone important is entering here!"

"What?"

"Yes, they are being brought in as we speak. Get ready."

They adjusted themselves on their thrones. Their daughters, the triplets- Lily, Lyra, and Ella- were busy on a picnic, so they wouldn't have to meet the newcomer yet.

"Send them in," Gregor sighed once the horn had blown again. And in walked someone he had expected to see never again.

It was basically his fifteen-year-old self, reflected in girl form with curlier hair. And, of course, she was loads prettier.

"Boots?" Luxa gasped.

Gregor was shocked into silence, for once.

The girl raised her eyes to meet Gregor's and a flood of images ran through his head. A little girl giggling as she rode a giant cockroach. No, a "beeg bug!" The girl being kidnapped right under his nose by the "beeg bugs". The same girl crying of starvation in a jungle. The girl singing. Endlessly, endlessly singing! The toddler who finally said his name right, after three years-

"Are you Boots?"

The girl folded her arms and looked defiant. "I was. Who are you and why am I here?"

"Wait, what do you mean 'I was'? I am your... your... brother. Gregor."

"Nicknames have changed in the past twelve years. Why did you leave us?"

It was a question Gregor asked himself every day. He sputtered out, "I couldn't take it anymore, being away from the one place I fit in. I asked Lizzie if she wanted to come with me, but she said no. I would've taken you, but you were too little." But secretly, he knew it wasn't an adequate response.

"Twelve years! Why have you been gone for twelve years? Apparently, you're my brother, but I don't even know you. Because you ran away so you could get married to her and forget all about us!" Boots gestured furiously at Luxa, who looked worriedly at Gregor.

"I-I didn't want to forget about you all-"

"Then why haven't you visited, hmm? You haven't even stopped in to say a quick hello to see how we've been doing. Remember Grandma? I never knew her, but she died a little while after you went missing. Dad had a major relapse, and the doctors were afraid they'd lose him. He got better! But noooo, you weren't there to comfort us, the last living remains of your former family!" Boots' face was bright red and she was practically shouting.

"She has a good reason," he thought miserably. "Everything she's saying is right. I am a lousy person."

Luxa looked at his face and squeezed his hand. She spoke up. "So, Boots. You have come here, but why? Your brother cannot leave. He has his kingly duties, his daughters, and a war to deal with. We would all be more than happy if your entire family moved down here, though. It could easily be arranged-"

Boots interrupted, "Wait. My brother is king. And has daughters? What? I'm an... an aunt? But I'm... only fifteen! I'm not... I'm not... old enough..."

"Your nieces are each five years of age," smiled Luxa. "Their names are Lily, Lyra, and Ella. I guess that I am your sister-in-law, as Gregor has told me that is the common Overland term."

"So, who are you? Besides my brother's wife, I mean."

"I am Queen Luxa. I remember you from when you were very young."

"Hold on." Boots walked up to Luxa and stared at her eyes. "Purple. Your eyes, they're purple! Wait, I remember something! Did you ever... hold out a ball to me or something?"

Gregor and Luxa smiled at each other. "It seems as if your sister remembers our first encounter!"

"You know, that's when I thought you were stuck-up." At that, Luxa swatted his arm playfully. "I still do, you know."

Boots looked at them uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah. You asked why I was here. It's a really long story, but it's not that important. So, um, what do I do now?"

Gregor called, "Hazard!" Four seconds later, nineteen-year-old Hazard ran in.

"King Gregor! I heard that your sist- Boots, is that you?" He stopped dead in his tracks, his black curls spilling over his forehead.

Boots stood up a little straighter and adjusted her hair. "That's M now, since my actual name is Margaret. And there aren't a lot of nicknames for Margaret, so yeah. Do I know you?"

"Yes. I knew you briefly when we were young." The halflander surveyed her quizzically. "But, I should formally introduce myself." He approached her and stuck out a hand. "Hello, Princess M, my name is Hazard. I am Queen Luxa's cousin, and I speak Crawler." He clicked a few words to her.

As if it were involuntary, she clicked back. "Whoa, what did I just do?"

Gregor thought to himself, "Ha. The princess isn't just a name anymore. She really is a princess!" He looked at M and Hazard. "Huh. If they get married, that would be interesting."

Hazard said to M, "You just spoke Crawler, which we learned together from a crawler named Temp. Do you remember Temp at all?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. Brief flashes sometimes, but not usually much."

Gregor announced, "Hazard, will you show Boots, I mean M, around here please? And introduce her to the triplets if you see them."

Hazard nodded and left the room in full tour guide mode, Boots trailing curiously.

"They are very entertaining," said Luxa, who he realized had been trying not to laugh. "Did you see how they acted?"

"Yeah. I wonder how Boots got here. She had to run into somebody..."

A voice was heard outside the room. "That somebody has a name, and they don't like being left out."

**Review, please! I do not own any of this!**


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